Australian authorities say they have seized the nation's largest-ever haul of methamphetamine, an illicit drug known locally as ice.
The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$1.2bn (£660m; $840m), were found hidden inside stereo speakers in a shipment at a Melbourne port.
The consignment had come from Thailand, police said. No arrests have been made.
Ice has been described as the most common and damaging illegal drug in Australia.
Authorities said the 1.6 tonne bust was equal to more than 13% of all drugs seized in the state of Victoria last year.
It was detected after the Australian Border Force (ABF) used an X-ray to reveal "anomalies" in the cargo shipment following its arrival from Bangkok.
Police said about 37kg of heroin was also discovered in vacuum-sealed bags inside the speakers.
ABF regional commander Craig Palmer said it was "the largest meth bust we've ever seen in this country" and showed the "brazen nature of those involved in this criminal activity".
The Australian Federal Police said the "insidious" drugs would have devastated communities.
They have appealed for public help to find those responsible.
Australia's 'ice' problem
The powerful drug - which can be smoked, snorted or injected - became the focus of a national taskforce in 2015 to tackle its growing use.
The move followed a report by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) that found crystal meth posed the highest risk to communities of any illegal substance.
Victoria - Australia's second-most populous state - consumes more than two tonnes of crystal meth every year, according to government figures.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
The ACC says the price of crystal meth in Australia is among the highest in the world, driving the country's organised crime gangs to trade increasingly in the drug.
Australian authorities say they have seized the nation's largest-ever haul of methamphetamine, an illicit drug known locally as ice.
The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$1.2bn (£660m; $840m), were found hidden inside stereo speakers in a shipment at a Melbourne port.
The consignment had come from Thailand, police said. No arrests have been made.
Ice has been described as the most common and damaging illegal drug in Australia.
Authorities said the 1.6 tonne bust was equal to more than 13% of all drugs seized in the state of Victoria last year.
It was detected after the Australian Border Force (ABF) used an X-ray to reveal "anomalies" in the cargo shipment following its arrival from Bangkok.
Police said about 37kg of heroin was also discovered in vacuum-sealed bags inside the speakers.
ABF regional commander Craig Palmer said it was "the largest meth bust we've ever seen in this country" and showed the "brazen nature of those involved in this criminal activity".
The Australian Federal Police said the "insidious" drugs would have devastated communities.
They have appealed for public help to find those responsible.
Australia's 'ice' problem
The powerful drug - which can be smoked, snorted or injected - became the focus of a national taskforce in 2015 to tackle its growing use.
The move followed a report by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) that found crystal meth posed the highest risk to communities of any illegal substance.
Victoria - Australia's second-most populous state - consumes more than two tonnes of crystal meth every year, according to government figures.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
The ACC says the price of crystal meth in Australia is among the highest in the world, driving the country's organised crime gangs to trade increasingly in the drug.
Australian authorities say they have seized the nation's largest-ever haul of methamphetamine, an illicit drug known locally as ice.
The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$1.2bn (£660m; $840m), were found hidden inside stereo speakers in a shipment at a Melbourne port.
The consignment had come from Thailand, police said. No arrests have been made.
Ice has been described as the most common and damaging illegal drug in Australia.
Authorities said the 1.6 tonne bust was equal to more than 13% of all drugs seized in the state of Victoria last year.
It was detected after the Australian Border Force (ABF) used an X-ray to reveal "anomalies" in the cargo shipment following its arrival from Bangkok.
Police said about 37kg of heroin was also discovered in vacuum-sealed bags inside the speakers.
ABF regional commander Craig Palmer said it was "the largest meth bust we've ever seen in this country" and showed the "brazen nature of those involved in this criminal activity".
The Australian Federal Police said the "insidious" drugs would have devastated communities.
They have appealed for public help to find those responsible.
Australia's 'ice' problem
The powerful drug - which can be smoked, snorted or injected - became the focus of a national taskforce in 2015 to tackle its growing use.
The move followed a report by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) that found crystal meth posed the highest risk to communities of any illegal substance.
Victoria - Australia's second-most populous state - consumes more than two tonnes of crystal meth every year, according to government figures.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
The ACC says the price of crystal meth in Australia is among the highest in the world, driving the country's organised crime gangs to trade increasingly in the drug.
Australian authorities say they have seized the nation's largest-ever haul of methamphetamine, an illicit drug known locally as ice.
The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$1.2bn (£660m; $840m), were found hidden inside stereo speakers in a shipment at a Melbourne port.
The consignment had come from Thailand, police said. No arrests have been made.
Ice has been described as the most common and damaging illegal drug in Australia.
Authorities said the 1.6 tonne bust was equal to more than 13% of all drugs seized in the state of Victoria last year.
It was detected after the Australian Border Force (ABF) used an X-ray to reveal "anomalies" in the cargo shipment following its arrival from Bangkok.
Police said about 37kg of heroin was also discovered in vacuum-sealed bags inside the speakers.
ABF regional commander Craig Palmer said it was "the largest meth bust we've ever seen in this country" and showed the "brazen nature of those involved in this criminal activity".
The Australian Federal Police said the "insidious" drugs would have devastated communities.
They have appealed for public help to find those responsible.
Australia's 'ice' problem
The powerful drug - which can be smoked, snorted or injected - became the focus of a national taskforce in 2015 to tackle its growing use.
The move followed a report by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) that found crystal meth posed the highest risk to communities of any illegal substance.
Victoria - Australia's second-most populous state - consumes more than two tonnes of crystal meth every year, according to government figures.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
The ACC says the price of crystal meth in Australia is among the highest in the world, driving the country's organised crime gangs to trade increasingly in the drug.
Police raids this week on an Australian journalist's home and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have left some people asking whether the country is doing enough to protect those who try to expose wrongdoing, as the BBC's Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.
In Stephen Spielberg's political blockbuster The Post, a publisher played by Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep reveals secret and corrupt activities by the US government during the Vietnam War.
David William McBride is no Hollywood leading man, but as the former Australian defence force lawyer charged with leaking classified papers at the centre of Wednesday's police raids at the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC), he has made breathtaking claims against the military and the government.
"It is everything like in the movies," Mr McBride told the BBC. "You are under surveillance a lot and it does get to you."
He is referring to his fight to air the truth about allegations that Australian special forces were involved in killing unarmed men and children while serving in Afghanistan.
"It is one thing fighting for an army in a war because you have a support group, but as a whistleblower you have none of that," he said.
"You're fighting a war on your own and your own sanity is often questioned by yourself and by others. It is a really miserable fight.
"I could see that the [Australian] government had become the worst threat to national security that we faced. They were no longer interested in actually defending the country. They were simply interested in defending themselves."
'They want to put me in jail'
Mr McBride is due to appear at the Australian Capital Territory's Supreme Court in Canberra on 13 June to face charges of leaking information to ABC journalists.
It is a case that has very publicly highlighted Australia's attitudes to whistleblowers.
"It is one of the great ironies," he said. "They won't prosecute the journalist who published the story and they've got no intention of doing that, but they want to put me in jail for 50 years."
The day before Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers raided the Sydney headquarters of the ABC, the case of another high-profile whistleblower was in court.
Richard Boyle exposed abuses inside one of the country's most powerful institutions, the Australian Tax Office (ATO), including aggressive debt collection practices.
He told the Adelaide Magistrates Court that he plans to plead not guilty to 66 charges. The 43-year old former ATO staff member faces a maximum prison sentence of 161 years if found guilty.
Mr Boyle said he lost his job, suffered a breakdown and chronic insomnia, as well as stress-related heart problems.
'Rolls Royce v second-hand ute'
There are legal safeguards in Australia for those who expose malpractice or corruption, but Josh Bornstein, the head of employment law at Maurice Blackburn lawyers, believes they are inadequate.
"When it comes to whistleblower protection Australia is a backwater. Fundamentally Australian culture is hostile to whistleblowers and to those who dob [inform on others].
"They are punished for doing the right thing. In many cases their health collapses and they never work again. We see case after case after case of that in both in the private sector and in the public sector," he told the BBC.
"The US and Canada both have schemes in place that reward whistleblowers in the private sector, in particular. Those schemes are so good they would allow an employee to anonymously blow the whistle and retain their employment.
"That is a Rolls Royce scheme. In Australia, in comparison, we have a scheme that is akin to a beaten-up second-hand ute."
Speaking while at D-Day commemorations half a world away in the UK, Mr Morrison said that his centre-right government was committed to freedom of the press but that "no one is above the law".
"These are matters that were being pursued by the AFP operationally, at complete arm's length from the government… not at the instigation of government ministers," he added.
But there are fears that reporters in Australia are under political pressure like never before.
"I'm not saying this is just about the current government but we have seen an increasing authoritarian mood creeping into the way that the media is handled by the government," warned Prof Catharine Lumby from Macquarie University, a former press gallery journalist in Canberra.
"Central to the health of a good liberal democracy is a robust media and the protection of freedom of speech. These are principles that unfortunately we are seeing eroded around the western world. I would really hate to see Australia going down that path of intimidating whistleblowers or journalists," she added.
Meanwhile, Mr McBride, a former British army captain in the Blues and Royals, has said he is prepared for the fight of his life in court.
"I am a well-intentioned, true believer in what I am doing. I think I am right and I think that the government is corrupt," he said.
"Truth has a real power all of its own. I've lost my job and I've lost a lot of other things, but I've never felt richer."
A police raid on Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) has drawn fire from broadcasters and rights groups.
Officers arrived at the public broadcaster's Sydney headquarters with search warrants naming two reporters and the news director. The ABC has protested over the raid.
The BBC said it was "deeply troubling" for a broadcaster to be searched.
The leading journalists' union in the country said the two raids represented a "disturbing pattern of assaults on Australian press freedom". Other unions and human rights groups also condemned the actions.
In a statement ABC Managing Director David Anderson said the police raid "raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press".
"The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest."
ABC News director Gaven Morris defended the two journalists who were named along with him in the search warrant.
Why the searches?
The police action is related to articles about alleged misconduct by Australian forces in Afghanistan.
The broadcaster said the series was "based off hundreds of pages of secret defence documents leaked to the ABC".
The Australian Federal Police said the warrant was in relation to "allegations of publishing classified material" and that it "relates to a referral received on 11 July 2017 from the Chief of the Defence Force and the then-Acting Secretary for Defence".
The Afghan Files were published by the ABC on 10 July 2017.
Tuesday's search at the home of newspaper journalist Annika Smethurst related to her 2018 report about a government plan to spy on Australian citizens.
Police said their warrant was linked with "the alleged publishing of information classified as an official secret".
The police said Tuesday's and Wednesday's raids were not connected, adding: "Both however relate to separate allegations of publishing classified material, contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act 1914, which is an extremely serious matter that has the potential to undermine Australia's national security."
It defended its actions, saying they had "been independent and impartial at all times".
AFP RAID LIVE: AFP starting to access hard drive. Head of AFP team says “this could take some time.” Pretty confronting scene; six AFP officers trying to get into the heart of the ABC’s computer system. Is this a free media?
Also on Tuesday, Ben Fordham, a broadcaster for radio station 2GB, said that the government was investigating how he had obtained information that up to six boats carrying asylum seekers had recently tried to reach Australia.
The BBC contacted the home affairs ministry for comment. A spokesperson would not confirm or deny the existence of the investigation.
"The chances of me revealing my sources is zero. Not today, not tomorrow, next week or next month. There is not a hope in hell of that happening," Fordham said.
What reaction has there been?
The raids have been met with widespread condemnation by media outlets and press freedom groups.
The search of Ms Smethurst's home provoked anger from her employer News Corp Australia. The multinational media corporation, owned by press mogul Rupert Murdoch, called the raid "outrageous and heavy-handed" and "a dangerous act of intimidation".
News Corp - whose UK titles include The Times and the Sun newspapers - said the public's right to know was being undermined by the Australian government.
Peter Greste, director of the Alliance for Journalists' Freedom, said Australians who value press freedom will be concerned by the raids.
Mr Greste, a former Al Jazeera reporter, suggested his jailing by the Egyptian government in 2013 on national security charges is "on the same spectrum".
The raids could have a "chilling effect on the right of journalists to carry out their jobs", the National Press Club of Australia said in a statement.
"The scene might be expected in an authoritarian country but not in a democracy," Reporters Without Borders said of the raids on Twitter.
Whistleblowers in the cross-hairs?
by Jay Savage, Australia editor, BBC News website
Australian journalists have reacted furiously, calling the raids "outrageous" and "chilling"; one editor said he'd "never seen an assault on the media as savage".
Police insist that there is no link between the scouring of the ABC and a News Corp Australia journalist's home.
But the timing is more than curious: two raids, on successive days, concerning stories that were published more than a year ago. Each piece explored matters of transparency in clandestine Australian institutions.
Some suspect it is the whistleblowers - not the media - who are actually being targeted.
Political opponents say all of this raises "serious questions" for Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government - which has denied any interference - and there are calls for an urgent inquiry into press freedom.
Others say the media should reflect upon defending all whistleblowers' interests as noisily as it defends itself.
The two raids come weeks after a new centre-right government was elected. In a surprise result, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was returned to office.
He responded to Tuesday's raid on Ms Smethurst's Canberra home by saying that while he supported press freedom, "it never troubles me that our laws are being upheld".
The opposition Labor party has asked Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to explain the raids.
Mr Dutton said he was only informed of the raids after they had taken place.
"Like all Australians, I believe in the freedom of the press," Mr Dutton said.
"We have clear rules and protections for that freedom of the press and we also have clear rules and laws protecting Australia's national security."
